Most people own credit or debit cards that allow them to charge payments when buying goods and services or withdrawing cash from automated teller machines (ATM). Card holders have to carry their cards and present them at cash registers or insert them into ATMs. The cards are swiped into special devices that can read the data embedded on the card and send the data in addition to the payment amount to the payment authority to validate the card data and available money balance on the card. In the case of credit cards, the payment is automatically charged to the account and the card holder signs a payment receipt to authorize the payment. In the case of debit cards, the card holder enters a personal identification number (PIN) that must match a previously stored PIN on the payment authority. There are also prepaid cards that hold a prepaid amount of money or in the case of cash where payment is the quickest without the need to sign a receipt or enter a PIN.
One common disadvantage of all of these types of payment methods is that they all have to be physically carried with the buyer whenever they are used. This creates a risk to buyers as the cards or cash could be lost, stolen, damaged or fraudulently obtained. Also, signatures could be forged and PINs could be forgotten.
In one attempt to further identify card holders, biometric information in the form of fingerprints has been heavily explored. Fingerprints are unique and can easily be read by fingerprint readers that are commercially available. Fingerprints can also be collected from buyers when they obtain or activate their credit or debit cards. Much of the art that employ fingerprints in financial transactions have been circulating around replacing signatures and PINs with fingerprints that could uniquely identify buyers and authorize payments. Such fingerprint data could be embedded on the card in some form and the extracted fingerprint data from buyers at the time of purchase can be matched against stored fingerprint data to find a match. However, all these patents do not address the issue of physically carrying a credit or debit card when making a purchase or money withdrawal. When physically carrying cards or checks to make a purchase, the account information is sent from the purchase location and transmitted to the remote payment institution to charge the account. If a shopper wants to visit more than one store then they may need to use the card issued by such particular stores instead of a generic card which could be inconvenient for shoppers. Furthermore, combining fingerprints with financial cards or accounts adds additional hardware that is needed at the location of purchase where a card reader and a fingerprint reader are needed.
A search of prior art did not disclose any patents that read directly on the claims of this invention. However, some existing U.S. patents were considered to be related to the subject of using fingerprints in financial transactions:
U.S. Pat. No.INVENTORISSUED5,869,822Meadows, II; Dexter L.Feb. 9, 19995,180,901Hiramatsu; KenichiJan. 19, 19936,212,290Gagne; Patricia C.Apr. 3, 20016,636,620Hoshino; SatoshiOct. 21, 20036,028,950Merjanian; J. M.Feb. 22, 20006,523,745Tamori; TeruhikoFeb. 25, 20035,648,648Chou; Ken W.Jul. 15, 19976,944,773Abrahams; M. D.Sep. 13, 2005
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,869,822, a patent is disclosed where the fingerprint data is encoded on the card and stored in a card database and/or a server database; the card owner registers the fingerprint and associates it with the card. At the time of use, the fingerprint data is compared with the encoded data on the card or server database. The card holder has to use and present the card at the time of purchase and there is no capability to associate more than one card with a fingerprint where the system selects a card based on previously defined rules. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,180,901, 6,212,290 and 6,636,620 work in a similar fashion where the fingerprint data is encoded on the card in different forms.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,028,950, a patent is disclosed for a fingerprint controlled set-top box. The operator's fingerprint is scanned and compared to the stored fingerprint data within a set-top box, a remote server, a central station, or on a card. The set-top box obtains and stores account information of the identified operator for at least one of a credit card, debit card, and smart card. The fingerprint data and account information of the set-top box operator are obtained at the time of usage or purchase where the fingerprint data is compared with stored fingerprint data and if a match is achieved the account of the operator associated with a selected card, the card being one of a credit card, debit card, and a smart card is billed. The account information is obtained and sent with the fingerprint data at the time of purchase to a remote location so the selected card can be charged. Also, the set-top box operator does not have the ability to associate more than one card with a fingerprint where the system selects a card based on previously defined rules.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,523,745, a patent is disclosed where the fingerprint data is used to encode the message sent across the system and the same stored fingerprint data is used to decode the original message. Also, an IC card is detailed with a built-in fingerprint identification apparatus which can store fingerprint and currency data values but the IC card is needed to make the purchase. A card is needed and used to perform a transaction and the account information is obtained and sent with the fingerprint data at the time of purchase. Also, there is no ability to associate more than one card with a fingerprint where the system selects a card based on previously defined rules.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,648,648, a system was detailed to raise the percentage of accuracy of fingerprint recognition system using acceptance and rejection comparisons. An access file is generated for each account where the access file specifies a plurality of different acceptance and rejection levels. The system receives fingerprint data of a requester and its accompanying request for a transaction and account information where account information is sent as part of the request.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,944,773, a method and apparatus for fingerprint authentication during on-line transactions was patented. User can use up to 10 fingerprints for authentication during an online transaction so that fingerprints authentication can replace the username and password authentication. The scanned fingerprints using a fingerprint reader are compared with stored fingerprints in the database. This patent only makes use of fingerprints for authentication of online transactions and does not address the association of fingerprints with one or more financial cards and accounts for online and offline transactions.